“The BlueLena team and tech stack are unparalleled in the industry. Their strategic partnership and proactive customer service makes them the ideal collaborator if you’re looking for systematic testing, learning and growth opportunities.”
Zainab Shah, Vice President, Audience Strategy, American Journalism Project
Meet the team that works for you
Ashley Woods Branch | Vice President, Growth & Publisher Success
Ashley Woods Branch joined BlueLena as Vice President, Growth and Publisher Success in June, 2024. As a member of our leadership team, she leads the growth of our publishing community, supports client and industry successes by leading strategic initiatives that advance long-term sustainability, and grows association and platform partnerships that…
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Austin Williams | Program Operations Manager
Austin joined BlueLena in June, 2020 and today serves as Program Operations Manager with responsibility as the first line of customer support, ensuring timely and efficient resolution of client requests. He also oversees platform configuration, user training and systems integration during new client onboarding. As part of the Agency Services…
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Christine Holbert | Publisher Strategist
Christine Holbert is a Publisher Strategist who works in support of publisher goals by developing, building and executing strategic services, authoring strategy playbooks, designing multi-channel fundraising campaigns and serving as a primary point of contact with the implementation and execution of added-value programs. Christine joined BlueLena in March, 2022 originally as…
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Daniel Williams | Founder/CEO
Daniel Williams is the Founder and CEO of BlueLena. He is an experienced media executive who has been an industry leader in journalism support roles for over two decades. In 2011, he co-founded and led LEAP Media Solutions as its CEO for six years through its acquisition by BlueVenn, where…
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Dustin Block | Director, Portfolio Growth
Dustin Block is the Director of Portfolio Growth at BlueLena, where he helps American Journalism Project publishers develop audience strategies that drive financial sustainability. With more than 25 years of experience in journalism, audience development, and digital strategy, Dustin has worked across print, digital, and broadcast newsrooms in leadership roles…
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Judi Kamien | Director, Publisher Success
Judi Kamien joined BlueLena’s consulting practice to assist nonprofit news organizations with end-to-end business strategy and organizational fundraising development. For thirty years, Judi has worked with smart, talented people to create and develop welcoming, empowering, and successful nonprofit brands and businesses. Most recently, as founding Chief Development Officer, Judi helped…
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Kai Crutchfield | Operations & Marketing Coordinator
Kai joined BlueLena in May, 2022 where she assists publishers in the transition from onboarding to strategy execution by leveraging our complete product offering, including tools for audience activation, engagement and monetization; and partner solutions including email acquisition, social media marketing, newsletters referral programs, e-commerce promotion and other services. Kai…
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Megan Wofford | Director of Products
Megan Wofford was promoted to Director of Products in September 2024 where she leads the product development cycle by leveraging our platforms and building solutions in furtherance of our publisher needs and requirements. She is chiefly responsible for leading the multi-disciplinary Product Development team in designing, testing, building and delivery…
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Ned Berke | Chief Strategy Officer
Prior to joining BlueLena in January 2021, Ned Berke served as Program Director, Audience Development at the Center for Cooperative Media. In that role, he provided consulting, training and strategic services to local, regional, niche and investigative news publishers to build a lasting framework for audience growth and sustainability. Today,…
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Quentin Clarke | Data Analyst Intern
Quentin joined BlueLena in October, 2024 as a Data Analyst Intern where he assists in the collection, preparation, organization and presentation of customer insights through standardized reporting and dashboards for our publisher clients. He is a sophomore at North Carolina State University where he studies Industrial and Systems Engineering. Quentin…
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Samantha Bennet | Vice President, Programs & Operations
Samantha Bennet joined BlueLena as the Vice President of Operations in September 2023 where she develops scalable solutions and programming to meet the needs of newsrooms as well as the team’s internal processes. She has over a decade of experience managing relationships with local newsrooms through training, audience development, cross-functional…
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Stephen Ratkovich | Director of Programs
Stephen Ratkovich was promoted to Director of Programs in September, 2024 where he leads the timely, efficient and successful technical and service-defined onboarding of new publishers, while serving internally as the first line of resource on how to solve challenges. In this role, he is chiefly responsible for project management,…
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Tammy Williams | Office Manager
Tammy joined BlueLena in January, 2021 as Office Manager, where she is responsible for general accounting, client invoicing, accounts receivables and human resourcing. Prior to joining BlueLena, Tammy served as Inside Sales Manager with the Whitlock Group where she was involved in the project scoping, procurement and account support for…
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Teresa Ristow | Publisher Strategist
Teresa Ristow is a Publisher Strategist who works in support of publisher goals by developing, building and executing strategic services, authoring strategy playbooks, managing paid acquisition marketing, designing multi-channel fundraising campaigns and serving as a primary point of contact with the implementation and execution of added-value programs. Teresa joined BlueLena…
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Trudi Hargis | Publisher Success Manager
Trudi Hargis joined BlueLena in August 2025 as Publisher Success Manager where she helps independent journalism organizations adopt new tools and develop strategies to grow their audiences, revenue and impact. With more than 12 years of experience in digital strategy for print, broadcast and online media, Trudi has worked with…
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Waqas Ahmed | Data Solutions Engineer
Waqas Ahmed joined BlueLena in January, 2022 as Data Solutions Engineer where he leads our data integration, API library, and unlocks strategic insights and actionable information by connecting publisher site analytics with the first party data compiled through registration, activation and ongoing engagement. He previously served as Senior Head of…
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